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Evaluation of Application Possibility for Floating Marine Pollutants Detection Using Image Enhancement Techniques: A Case Study for Thin Oil Film on the Sea Surface (영상 강화 기법을 통한 부유성 해양오염물질 탐지 기술 적용 가능성 평가: 해수면의 얇은 유막을 대상으로)

  • Soyeong Jang;Yeongbin Park;Jaeyeop Kwon;Sangheon Lee;Tae-Ho Kim
    • Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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    • v.39 no.6_1
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    • pp.1353-1369
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    • 2023
  • In the event of a disaster accident at sea, the scale of damage will vary due to weather effects such as wind, currents, and tidal waves, and it is obligatory to minimize the scale of damage by establishing appropriate control plans through quick on-site identification. In particular, it is difficult to identify pollutants that exist in a thin film at sea surface due to their relatively low viscosity and surface tension among pollutants discharged into the sea. Therefore, this study aims to develop an algorithm to detect suspended pollutants on the sea surface in RGB images using imaging equipment that can be easily used in the field, and to evaluate the performance of the algorithm using input data obtained from actual waters. The developed algorithm uses image enhancement techniques to improve the contrast between the intensity values of pollutants and general sea surfaces, and through histogram analysis, the background threshold is found,suspended solids other than pollutants are removed, and finally pollutants are classified. In this study, a real sea test using substitute materials was performed to evaluate the performance of the developed algorithm, and most of the suspended marine pollutants were detected, but the false detection area occurred in places with strong waves. However, the detection results are about three times better than the detection method using a single threshold in the existing algorithm. Through the results of this R&D, it is expected to be useful for on-site control response activities by detecting suspended marine pollutants that were difficult to identify with the naked eye at existing sites.

Pulmonary Mycoses in Immunocompromised Hosts (면역기능저하 환자에서 폐진균증에 대한 임상적 고찰)

  • Suh, Gee-Young;Park, Sang-Joon;Kang, Kyeong-Woo;Koh, Young-Min;Kim, Tae-Sung;Chung, Man-Pyo;Kim, Ho-Joong;Han, Jong-Ho;Choi, Dong-Chull;Song, Jae-Hoon;Kwon, O-Jung;Rhee, Chong-H.
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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    • v.45 no.6
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    • pp.1199-1213
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    • 1998
  • Background : The number of immunocompromised hosts has been increasing steadily and a new pulmonary infiltrate in these patients is a potentially lethal condition which needs rapid diagnosis and treatment. In this study we sought to examine the clinical manifestations, radiologic findings, and therapeutic outcomes of pulmonary mycoses presenting as a new pulmonary infiltrate in immunocompromised hosts. Method : All cases presenting as a new pulmonary infiltrate in immunocompromised hosts and confirmed to be pulmonary mycoses by pathologic examination or by positive culture from a sterile site between October of 1996 and April of 1998 were included in the study and their chart and radiologic findings were retrospectively reviewed. Results : In all, 14 cases of pulmonary mycoses from 13 patients(male : female ratio = 8 : 5, median age 47 yr) were found. Twelve cases were diagnosed as aspergillosis while two were diagnosed as mucormycosis. Major risk factors for fungal infections were chemotherapy for hematologic malignancy(10 cases) and organ transplant recipients(4 cases). Three cases were receiving empirical amphotericin B at the time of appearance of new lung infiltrates. Cases in the hematologic malignancy group had more prominent symptoms : fever(9/10), cough(6/10), sputum(5/10), dyspnea(4/10), chest pain(5/10). Patients in the organ transplant group had minimal symptoms(p<0.05). On simple chest films, all of the cases presented as single or multiple nodules(6/14) or consolidations(8/14). High resolution computed tomograph showed peri-lesional ground glass opacities(14/14), pleural effusions(5/14), and cavitary changes(7/14). Definitive diagnostic methods were as follows : 10 cases underwent minithoracotomy, 2 underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, 1 underwent percutaneous needle aspiration and 1 case was diagnosed by culture of abscess fluid. All cases received treatment with amphotericin B with 1 case each being treated with liposomal amphotericin B and itraconazole due to renal toxicity. Lung lesion improved in 12 of 14 patient but 4 patients died before completing therapy. Conclusion : When a new lung infiltrate develops presenting either as a nodule or consolidation in a neutropenic patient with hematologic malignancy or in a transplant recipient, you should always consider pulmonary mycoses as one of the differential diagnosis. By performing aggressive work up and early treatment, we may improve prognosis of these patients.

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Product Evaluation Criteria Extraction through Online Review Analysis: Using LDA and k-Nearest Neighbor Approach (온라인 리뷰 분석을 통한 상품 평가 기준 추출: LDA 및 k-최근접 이웃 접근법을 활용하여)

  • Lee, Ji Hyeon;Jung, Sang Hyung;Kim, Jun Ho;Min, Eun Joo;Yeo, Un Yeong;Kim, Jong Woo
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.26 no.1
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    • pp.97-117
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    • 2020
  • Product evaluation criteria is an indicator describing attributes or values of products, which enable users or manufacturers measure and understand the products. When companies analyze their products or compare them with competitors, appropriate criteria must be selected for objective evaluation. The criteria should show the features of products that consumers considered when they purchased, used and evaluated the products. However, current evaluation criteria do not reflect different consumers' opinion from product to product. Previous studies tried to used online reviews from e-commerce sites that reflect consumer opinions to extract the features and topics of products and use them as evaluation criteria. However, there is still a limit that they produce irrelevant criteria to products due to extracted or improper words are not refined. To overcome this limitation, this research suggests LDA-k-NN model which extracts possible criteria words from online reviews by using LDA and refines them with k-nearest neighbor. Proposed approach starts with preparation phase, which is constructed with 6 steps. At first, it collects review data from e-commerce websites. Most e-commerce websites classify their selling items by high-level, middle-level, and low-level categories. Review data for preparation phase are gathered from each middle-level category and collapsed later, which is to present single high-level category. Next, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs are extracted from reviews by getting part of speech information using morpheme analysis module. After preprocessing, words per each topic from review are shown with LDA and only nouns in topic words are chosen as potential words for criteria. Then, words are tagged based on possibility of criteria for each middle-level category. Next, every tagged word is vectorized by pre-trained word embedding model. Finally, k-nearest neighbor case-based approach is used to classify each word with tags. After setting up preparation phase, criteria extraction phase is conducted with low-level categories. This phase starts with crawling reviews in the corresponding low-level category. Same preprocessing as preparation phase is conducted using morpheme analysis module and LDA. Possible criteria words are extracted by getting nouns from the data and vectorized by pre-trained word embedding model. Finally, evaluation criteria are extracted by refining possible criteria words using k-nearest neighbor approach and reference proportion of each word in the words set. To evaluate the performance of the proposed model, an experiment was conducted with review on '11st', one of the biggest e-commerce companies in Korea. Review data were from 'Electronics/Digital' section, one of high-level categories in 11st. For performance evaluation of suggested model, three other models were used for comparing with the suggested model; actual criteria of 11st, a model that extracts nouns by morpheme analysis module and refines them according to word frequency, and a model that extracts nouns from LDA topics and refines them by word frequency. The performance evaluation was set to predict evaluation criteria of 10 low-level categories with the suggested model and 3 models above. Criteria words extracted from each model were combined into a single words set and it was used for survey questionnaires. In the survey, respondents chose every item they consider as appropriate criteria for each category. Each model got its score when chosen words were extracted from that model. The suggested model had higher scores than other models in 8 out of 10 low-level categories. By conducting paired t-tests on scores of each model, we confirmed that the suggested model shows better performance in 26 tests out of 30. In addition, the suggested model was the best model in terms of accuracy. This research proposes evaluation criteria extracting method that combines topic extraction using LDA and refinement with k-nearest neighbor approach. This method overcomes the limits of previous dictionary-based models and frequency-based refinement models. This study can contribute to improve review analysis for deriving business insights in e-commerce market.

Distributors' Preference for the Flextime System (유통업체 종사자의 유동근무제에 대한 선호성향에 대한 연구)

  • Lee, Won-Haeng
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.10 no.4
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    • pp.13-20
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    • 2012
  • The "flextime" system, which was initially designed to maintain a balance between work and personal life, has recently received much attention as an alternative form of work, enabling employees to fully exert their creativity. Most studies show that the effects of flextime on performance, productivity, attitude toward the organization, absenteeism, and turnover differ between managerial and non-managerial workers. This suggests that workers' personal characteristics affect their preference for flextime by directly or indirectly influencing its result variables. As most Korean companies have not adopted the flextime system, little research has been conducted on it in Korea. Recently, Korean companies have been discussing flextime as one of several measures for enhancing international competitiveness. Therefore, this study aims to offer a theoretical framework for the introduction of the system by analyzing the effects of the precedent factors on the preference for flextime. Though not statistically significant, a higher preference for flextime is noted among workers over the age of 36. Older workers usually are more conservative and less adaptable to change but here the older Korean workers may be anxious and resistant. Additional research on workers in different types of businesses using improved research methods will lead to more meaningful results. Married workers display a lower preference to flextime than single workers. In Korea, the current atmosphere focused on a happy home encourages married workers to prefer regular work hours, enabling them to go to and from work on a regular schedule. This means that normal working hours, from morning to evening, are preferred as it is the most suitable system for families. However, this is not so in the case of single workers. Unmarried singles tend to prefer flextime for investing in self-development toward future prosperity, over the benefits of regular working-hours. Flextime is designed to meet their needs to some extent as it is helpful in maintaining a balance between work life and self-development. If flextime is selected, workers can spend mornings on self-development and work in the afternoons. Therefore, when flextime is introduced in Korea, it would be desirable to start with unmarried workers, to increase corporate creativity and productivity and develop individual potential. In particular, when the five-day workweek, the main concern for companies and labor unions, is adopted, synergy with flextime could be expected and a gradual implementation of flextime will be effective. Gender difference shows similar results to marital status with male workers displaying a higher preference for flextime. It is inferred that male workers' attitudes toward flextime are more favorable than female workers' because flextime enables self-development and work life to coexist. A relatively weak, though statistically significant, correlation exists between control position and flextime preference with inner-control-oriented workers displaying favorable attitudes toward flextime. Generally, inner-control-oriented workers tend to attribute the consequences caused by any person or partner relationship to themselves. Thus, when a new system is introduced they are likely to have less reluctance and fear than outer-control-oriented workers, because they think it is important to deal with the new system. A weak but slight correlation exists between the desire for achievement and flextime preference. People who have a higher desire for achievement are willing to consider the new system, especially if significant success is reasonably expected. This result is derived from a reasonable judgment that flextime offers an individual the time for self-development while the organization benefits from the resulting creativity and performance enhancements. Although not the primary analysis, a high correlation is found between control position and the desire for achievement, which is consistent with the results of previous research. The regression analysis not only supports the preceding ANOVA and correlation analysis but also shows the existence of a causal relationship. Married workers have a weak preference for flextime, which is consistent with the results of the preceding ANOVA. Relative to men, women have a weak preference for flextime. No statistically significant correlation was noticed for age. Inner-control-oriented workers prefer flextime more than outer-control-oriented workers as the former view the consequences of change to be their own responsibility. However, the preference for flextime seems to be weak. As expected, people with a higher desire for achievement have a stronger preference for flextime, presumably because the greater the desire for achievement, the stronger the spirit of challenging an uncertain future. No significant correlation exists between job satisfaction and flextime preference.

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Clinical Applications and Efficacy of Korean Ginseng (고려인삼의 주요 효능과 그 임상적 응용)

  • Nam, Ki-Yeul
    • Journal of Ginseng Research
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    • v.26 no.3
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    • pp.111-131
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    • 2002
  • Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) received a great deal of attention from the Orient and West as a tonic agent, health food and/or alternative herbal therapeutic agent. However, controversy with respect to scientific evidence on pharmacological effects especially, evaluation of clinical efficacy and the methodological approach still remains to be solved. Author reviewed those articles published since 1980 when pharmacodynamic studies on ginseng have intensively started. Special concern was paid on metabolic disorders including diabetes mellitus, circulatory disorders, malignant tumor, sexual dysfunction, and physical and mental performance to give clear information to those who are interested in pharmacological study of ginseng and to promote its clinical use. With respect to chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, malignant disorders, and sexual disorders, it seems that ginseng plays preventive and restorative role rather than therapeutics. Particularly, ginseng plays a significant role in ameliorating subjective symptoms and preventing quality of life from deteriorating by long term exposure of chemical therapeutic agents. Also it seems that the potency of ginseng is mild, therefore it could be more effective when used concomitantly with conventional therapy. Clinical studies on the tonic effect of ginseng on work performance demonstrated that physical and mental dysfunction induced by various stresses are improved by increasing adaptability of physical condition. However, the results obtained from clinical studies cannot be mentioned in the indication, which are variable upon the scientist who performed those studies. In this respect, standardized ginseng product and providing planning of the systematic clinical research in double-blind randomized controlled trials are needed to assess the real efficacy for proposing ginseng indication. Pharmacological mode of action of ginseng has not yet been fully elucidated. Pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic researches reveal that the role of ginseng not seem to be confined to a given single organ. It has been known that ginseng plays a beneficial role in such general organs as central nervous, endocrine, metabolic, immune systems, which means ginseng improves general physical and mental conditons. Such multivalent effect of ginseng can be attributed to the main active component of ginseng,ginsenosides or non-saponin compounds which are also recently suggested to be another active ingredients. As is generally the similar case with other herbal medicines, effects of ginseng cannot be attributed as a given single compound or group of components. Diversified ingredients play synergistic or antagonistic role each other and act in harmonized manner. A few cases of adverse effect in clinical uses are reported, however, it is not observed when standardized ginseng products are used and recommended dose was administered. Unfavorable interaction with other drugs has also been suggested, which the information on the products and administered dosage are not available. However, efficacy, safety, interaction or contraindication with other medicines has to be more intensively investigated in order to promote clinical application of ginseng. For example, daily recommended doses per day are not agreement as 1-2g in the West and 3-6 g in the Orient. Duration of administration also seems variable according to the purpose. Two to three months are generally recommended to feel the benefit but time- and dose-dependent effects of ginseng still need to be solved from now on. Furthermore, the effect of ginsenosides transformed by the intestinal microflora, and differential effect associated with ginsenosides content and its composition also should be clinically evaluated in the future. In conclusion, the more wide-spread use of ginseng as a herbal medicine or nutraceutical supplement warrants the more rigorous investigations to assess its effacy and safety. In addition, a careful quality control of ginseng preparations should be done to ensure an acceptable standardization of commercial products.

Consideration About the Bacterial Endotoxin Test Showing False Positive Test Result When Performing LAL Test (LAL Test에서 위양성을 나타내는 원인들에 대한 고찰)

  • Hwang, Ki-Young;Cho, Yong-Hyun;Lee, Yong-Suk;Kim, Hyung-Woo;Lee, Hong-Jae;Kim, Hyun-Ju
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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    • v.13 no.3
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    • pp.156-158
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    • 2009
  • Purpose: Since radiopharmaceuticals are intended for human administration, it is imperative that we should undergo quality control very strictly. Now almost all the PET laboratories have adopted Bacterial Endotoxin Test as the stand quality control method to monitor whether pyrogen is free or not in the product vial containing crude solution. The aim of this study is to find out the reason why false positive result is observed when using commercially available test vial. Materials and Methods: For this experiment, we used commercially available single test kit (Associates of Cape Code. Inc. USA) and we made pH samples by mixing each buffer whose pH ranges are 1.0 to 12.0. Otherwise we made Ethanol samples diluted with distilled water. After making test samples, it added 0.2 mL to the test vial. Assay mixture in the test vial was incubated in a water bath (Chang Shin Co. KOR) for 60 min at $35{\pm}2^{\circ}C$. Results: After incubation period ($60{\pm}1^{\circ}C$), we inverted the test vial about $180^{\circ}$ To know what pH and how many percentage of Ethanol (Fisher Scientific Korea. Ltd) will affect the reaction. With pH buffer, false positive result was observed at pH 1.0 to 5.0 and 7.7 to 12.6 but at pH 5.2 to.7.5, the test results show negative. It's very strange that we couldn't observe negative test result with Tris buffer at pH 8.4, 8.6, 8.8, 9.0. in other case Ethanol, the test result was seen with 5 to 10% Ethanol. But to my surprise we could see very thick gel formation with 100% Ethanol. Conclusions: In this study, we could notice that pH which is too much acidic or alkalic or high concentrated Ethanol would affect Bacterial Endotoxin Test result. As you know, LAL test is sensitive and very reliable method. Therefore, we are needed to elicit the accurate test result as possible as we can.

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A study on the physico-chemical characteristics of municipal solid wastes generated in the sunchon city (순천시의 생활폐기물 발생량 예측 및 재활용시설의 용량산정에 관한 연구)

  • Hu, Kwan;Moon, Ok-Ran;Wang, Seung-Ho
    • Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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    • v.9 no.4
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    • pp.125-134
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    • 2001
  • The purpose of this study is to provide basic information for a future countermeasure municipal and to establish several wastes policy after investigating solid wastes from Sunchon City. In addition, this research can be supported to manage of recycling plant and to reuse plant of each wastes. Results are as bellows after checking up and analysis type of waste in Sunchon city Unit solid waste generation rate from single family is $0.50kg/person{\cdot}day$, and total solid wastes are 41.9ton/day. Unit solid waste generation rate from apartments is $0.45kg/person{\cdot}day$, and solid wastes generation is 55.5ton/day. Unit solid waste generation rate from agricultural is $0.22kg/person{\cdot}day$ and total solid wastes are 13.5ton/day. That show total amount of municipal solid wastes from residential are 110.9ton/day. Unit solid waste generation rate from traditional markets is $1.85kg/person{\cdot}day$, and solid waste total volume is 5,400kg/day. Unit solid waste generation rate from small store is $2.03kg/person{\cdot}day$, and solid waste total are 25,101kg/day. Therefore, this show that total wastes are 30.50kg from downtown and commercial area. Solid waste quantity from Industrial area (Factory region) is 8.5ton and in case of school and hospitals are 7.2kg/day and 3.0kg/day. Solid waste amount from Institutional is 6.6kg/day. Food wastes were eliminated from municipal solid wastes as standard 63.4ton/day, and combustible wastes were 126.9ton/day. If it schedule about 5 years (by 2006) as durable year for food wastes treatment plant, it is expected 42.5ton/day for treatment capacity. We can judge that it is effective to be set 2 lines equipment ${\times}25ton/day$ as treatment ability under considering unexpected working condition such as any repair, trouble and an electrical load. If it schedule about 10 years (by 2011) as durable year for food wastes treatment plant, it is expected 150 ton/day for treatment capacity. We can conclude that it is effective to be set 2 lines equipment ${\times}80ton/day$ as treatment ability under considering working condition such as low loaded operating and the repair for incineration.

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The Optimal Time for Embryo Transfer in Fresh IVF: Comparison between Day 3 and Day 5 on Pregnancy Outcomes (체외수정술 후 난할단계 배아와 포배기단계 배아를 이식했을 때의 임신예후의 비교)

  • Lyu, Sang-Woo;Kim, A-Ri;Seok, Hyun-Ha;Kim, You-Shin;Lee, Woo-Sik;Yoon, Tae-Ki;Won, Hyung-Jae
    • Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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    • v.37 no.2
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    • pp.143-151
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    • 2010
  • Objective: The aim of this study was to compare day 3 embryo transfer (D3ET) with day 5 ET (D5ET) in fresh in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle on pregnancy outcomes. Methods: We conducted a retrospective matched case control study that included 90 women with D3ET and 90 women with D5ET from January 2007 to June 2009. Subjects were matched for reproductive profiles and IVF cycle characteristics. Two good quality embryos were transferred in both groups. Pregnancy rates (PR), implantation rate, and multiple PR were compared. Results: Demographics, stimulation parameters and embryological data were comparable in both groups. Main pregnancy outcomes with D3ET and D5ET groups were not statistically different: implantation rate (39.4% vs. 32.8%), positive PR (57.8% vs. 46.7%), clinical PR (53.3% vs. 45.6%), ongoing PR (50.0% vs. 42.2%), respectively. Both groups showed high multiple PR (37.5% vs. 34.1). Conclusion: D5ET may not be beneficial and necessary in comparison with D3ET on pregnancy outcomes, and elective single ET should be considered to decrease multiple pregnancies in women with favorable conditions and good quality embryos undergoing IVF.

A Study Consequence Management System of the Terrorism (테러리즘의 대응관리체제에 관한 고찰 - "9. 11 테러"를 중심으로 -)

  • Kim, Yi-Soo;Ahn, Byung-Soo;Han, Nam-Soo
    • Korean Security Journal
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    • no.7
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    • pp.95-124
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    • 2004
  • It can be said that 'the September 11th Terrorist Attacks' in 2001 were not only the indiscriminate attacks on innocent people but also the whole - political, economical and military - attacks on human life. Also, 'the September 11th Terrorist Attacks' can be regarded as the significant events in the history of world, which were on the peak of the super-terrorism or new-terrorism that had emerged from the 1980s. However, if one would have analysed the developments of terrorism from the 1970s, they could have been foreknown without difficulty. The finding from this study can be summarized as the followings, First, in spite that the USA responsive system against terrorism had been assessed as perfect before 'the September 11th Terrorist Attacks', the fragilities were found in the aspects of the response on the new-terrorism or super-terrorism. The previous responsive system before 'the September 11th Terrorist Attacks' had the following defects as the followings: (1) it was impossible to establish the integrated strategy, because the organizations related to the response against terrorism had not integrated; (2) there were some weakness to collect and diffuse the informations related to terrorism; (3) the security system for the domestic airline service in USA and the responsive system of air defense against terrors on aircraft were very fragile. For these reasons, USA government established the 'Department of Homeland Security' of which the President is the head so that the many organizations related to terrorism were integrated into a single management system. And, it legislated a new act to protect security from terrors, which legalized of the wiretapping in spite of the risk of encroachment upon personal rights, increased the jail terms upon terrorists, froze the bank related to terrorist organization, and could censor e-mails. Second, it seem that Korean responsive system against terrors more fragile than that of USA. One of the reasons is that people have some perception that Korea is a safe zone from terrors, because there were little attacks from international terrorists in Korea. This can be found from the fact that the legal arrangement against terrorism is only the President's instruction No. 47. Under this responsive system against terrorism dependent on only the President's instruction, it is expected that there would be a poor response against terrors due to the lack of unified and integrated responsive agency as like the case of USA before 'the September 11th Terrorist Attacks'. And, where there is no legal countermeasure, it is impossible to expect the binding force on the outside of administrative agencies and the performances to prevent and hinder the terrorist actions can not but be limited. That is to say, the current responsive system can not counteract effectively against the new-terrorism and super-terrorism. Third, although there were some changes in Korean government's policies against terrorism. there still are problems. One of the most important problems is that the new responsive system against terrorism in Korea, different from that of USA, is not a permanent agency but a meeting body that is organized by a commission. This commission is controled by the Prime Minister and the substantial tasks are under the National Intelligence Service. Under this configuration, there can be the lack of strong leadership and control. Additionally, because there is no statute to response against terrorism, it is impossible to prevent and counteract effectively against terrorism. The above summarized suggests that, because the contemporary super-terrorism or new-terrorism makes numerous casualties of unspecified persons and enormous nationwide damages, the thorough prevention against terrorism is the most important challenge, and that the full range of legal and institutional arrangements for the ex post counteraction should be established. In order to do so, it is necessary for the government to make legal and institutional arrangements such as the permanent agency for protection from terrorism in which the related departments cooperates with together and the development of efficient anti-terror programs, and to show its willingness and ability that it can counteract upon any type of domestic and foreign terrorism so that obtain the active supports and confidence from citizens.

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A Vertical Transmission, de novo, and Expansion of Y chromosome Microdeletion in Male Fetuses Pregnant after Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (미세정자주입술로 임신이 된 남자태아의 Y 염색체 미세결실의 Vertical Transmission, de novo, 그리고 Expansion의 연구)

  • Kim, Huyn-Ah;Lee, Sook-Hwan;Cho, Sung-Won;Jeong, Hye-Jin;Son, Soo-Min;Kang, Soo-Jin;Bae, Seong-Keun;Kim, Soo-Hee;Yoon, Tae-Ki
    • Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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    • v.31 no.2
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    • pp.105-110
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    • 2004
  • Objectives: Despite severe oligospermia, males with Y chromosome microdeletion can achieve conception through ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection). However, ICSI may not only result in the transmission of microdeletions but also the expansion of deletion to the offspring. The purpose of this study was to screen vertical transmission, expansion of microdeletions and de novo deletion in male fetuses conceived by ICSI. Materials and Methods: A total of 32 ICSI treated patients with their 33 (a case of twin) male fetuses conceived by ICSI were used to make this study group. Sequence-tagged sites (STSs)-based PCR analyses were performed on genomic DNA isolated from peripheral blood of fathers and from the amniocytes of male fetuses. Ten primer pairs namely, sY134, sY138, MK5, sY152, sY147, sY254, sY255, SPGY1, sY269 and sY158 were used. The samples with deletions were verified at least three times. Results: We detected a frequency of 12.5% (4 of the 32 patients) of microdeletions in ICSI patients. In 4 patients with detected deletions, two patients have proven deletions on single STS marker and their male fetuses have the identical deletion in this region. Another two patients have two and three deletions, but their male fetuses have more than 3 deletions which include deletions to their father's. Meanwhile, seven male fetuses, whose fathers were analyzed to have all 10 STS markers present, have deletions present in at least one or more of the markers. Conclusions: Although the majority of deletions on the Y chromosome are believed to arise de novo, in some cases a deletion has been transmitted from the fertile father to the infertile patient. In other cases the deletion was transmitted through ICSI treatment, it is likely that one sperm cell is injected through the oocyte's cytoplasm and fertilization can be obtained from spermatozoa. Our tests for deletion were determined by PCR and our results show that the ICSI treatment may lead to vertical transmission, expansion and de novo Y chromosome microdeletions in male fetuses. Because the sample group was relatively small, one should be cautious in analyzing these data. However, it is important to counsel infertile couples contemplating ICSI if the male carries Y chromosomal microdeletions.